“I’m not sure what you—”
“Exactly how high is your IQ anyway?”
Miki cleared her throat. “One hundred and seventy-eight.”
Last he heard one hundred and forty was hitting genius level. Damn.
“Why didn’t you go to some special school or something?”
“My grandmother didn’t believe in them. But I always took advanced classes and some college courses.” Her body was tense against his. She was waiting for some kind of weird repercussion to her admission. She didn’t seem to realize he really could give a shit. As far as he was concerned this only meant their kids would be smart shapeshifters.
“Well, so you don’t get too cocky, I myself often complete the TV Guide crossword puzzle.” He puffed out his chest. “In pen.”
Miki burst out laughing. He loved making her laugh. Her entire body became involved. Kind of like when she had an orgasm.
Conall kissed her forehead. “Let’s get out of here before they—oh, shit.”
“What?” She pulled out of his arms and turned to see what he was looking at. Not a pretty sight. The hyenas had done something he’d never seen before and he hoped to never see again.
They’d sent their children to hunt them.
Six of them stood in the middle of the street in front of her and Conall. A quick look behind them and Miki saw three more.
It was broad daylight in a nice, quiet suburban neighborhood. Yet she felt trapped in a desert in the dead of night.
Miki didn’t mince words. “Let’s get in the car and run the fuckers down.”
Conall gaped at her. “They’re kids. I can’t hit kids. And I’m really hoping you can’t either.”
Miki sighed. No. She couldn’t mow down a bunch of kids. But she wished she could. Because they may be children, but they were the scariest fucking things she’d ever seen. She always wondered what kind of kids were homeschooled. These guys must make up a huge percentage. She had a feeling the fangs they were showing couldn’t retract until they were much older.
“Fine. You want to be Mr. Nice Guy and not hit the kids, then that leaves only one option.”
“Which is?”
She quickly snatched the door open to the SUV, dived inside to dig into her backpack, and pulled out her house keys.
“Now I don’t want you to take this personally,” she ordered as she scrambled back out.
Conall didn’t look at her, too busy watching the slowly advancing cubs. “Take what personally?”
Miki pulled off the small plastic controller attached to her keys. She showed it to him.
“Stop the Bark?” He smirked even as his canine teeth extended and his eyes shifted to wolf. “You’re kidding, right? That may work with that golden you were loving up, but I doubt it will do much to the rest of us.”
Miki cleared her throat. “I amped it up a bit in case those full-blooded wolves got a little cranky Sara wasn’t around anymore.” She pushed the button and hoped Conall could forgive her.
He went down first. His hands over his ears, his fangs bared, a howl torn from his throat. Then the hyenas went down screaming. Even the adult females watching from the sidelines hit the ground, their androgynous bodies writhing in pain. To Miki it was silent. She couldn’t hear anything and she felt nothing.
Well, at least now she knew it worked.
Miki grabbed Conall by the neck of his T-shirt and tugged, hoping he could manage to get up since she’d never be able to lift him by herself. He dragged himself up and crawled into the SUV. She followed, her finger still on the button. She adjusted the seat so her feet reached the gas pedal, and then she started the SUV. She finally released the button as she drove off, making sure to avoid the cubs lying in the street.
Once they were safely away, she dropped her keys and the device back in her bag.
Conall looked at her. His fangs still out, his eyes red rimmed. “You call that ‘amping it up a bit’?”
She shrugged. “Be thankful. It could have been worse. I’ve been thinking about mating it with a stun gun. You know, for shits and giggles.”
He leaned back in the seat. “You’re a dangerous woman, Miki Kendrick.”
She smiled. She got the feeling he meant that as a compliment.
Chapter Sixteen
Conall had been watching her for the last ten minutes. She’d asked for grape but he could only find cherry. A cherry ice pop. He’d handed it to her after getting back with their lunch from the deli next door.
Once they got safely back to the hotel, and his ears stopped ringing, he’d talked to Sara. Filled her in on the information discovered by Miki’s hacker friends. Told her about what he saw at the Clan den. She was unfazed by the fact Miki had gone with him on his little excursion. Seemed she trusted her friend as much as he did. And he did trust Miki. That realization kept playing through his brain. Sara told him she would talk to Zach once he got back from hunting, and they’d get some Pack members up to Seattle as soon as possible. Then she gave him a direct command. Something she never did. Protect Miki. She didn’t care what he had to do or who he had to kill. She wanted Miki safe.
As far as Conall was concerned, not a problem.
So, he’d settled in to eat the first of the three giant sandwiches with chips and beer he’d bought. But he hadn’t taken a bite. Not once he noticed her and that freakin’ ice pop.
Stomach down on the bed, she worked on her laptop doing more research on hyenas. She had both hands on the keyboard, forcing her to suck on the phallic-shaped ice pop only using her mouth. In and out. In and out. And the slurping sounds—she had to be kidding! He’d bet money Miki had no clue what she was doing to him.
Eventually, he couldn’t take it anymore.
“I want you to do that to me.”
She didn’t look up from her laptop. “Do what,” she mumbled around the pop.
“Suck my cock like you’re sucking that ice pop.”
She froze, her hands pausing over the keyboard. Slowly her eyes lifted, focusing on him. She stared at him for several moments. Then she pulled the ice pop out of her mouth, making sure to include a wet “pop” sound when she did.
“That’s quite the request.”
“It’s not a request.”
Miki grinned, her teeth catching her bottom lip. “I see. A demand.” She pushed the pop past her lips, long and slow, and pulled it out just as slowly. “Interesting.”
Miki slipped off the bed and walked toward him. Suddenly his cell phone went off. They both looked at it. Then they dived for it. But Miki was smaller and faster. She grabbed it and flipped it open.
“Hello? Hi, Zach.”
Conall shook his head and waved her off, his big body dropping heavily into a nearby chair. His now-painful hard-on nearly ripping through his jeans. “Bathroom! I’m in the bathroom!” he mouthed desperately.
“No. No. He’s around. Let me grab him for you.”
He’d kill her.
Miki put the phone behind her, using her ass to cover the mouthpiece. She leaned in close to Conall, whispering right against his ear.
“You’re going to talk to him. And you’re going to be like you always are. And if you can’t hold on a conversation. Or if you let him know I’m going down on you…I stop.”
He wanted to come from that alone, especially when her tongue reached out and swiped across his ear.
She handed him the phone and slipped the ice pop back in her mouth. He held the phone by his ear but hadn’t spoken yet as he watched her kneel in front of him. She undid his jeans and he raised his hips so she could get them off. So busy staring at her, wondering what she was going to do next, he completely forgot about Zach until she motioned to the phone with her head.
“Hey, Zach.”